The Influence of Current Pain on Accuracy of Recalled Pain States Following an Orthopedic Procedure

Indianapolis, IN

Positive outcomes following surgery is a goal all surgeons strive to achieve. Positive outcomes are considered in numerous ways including: tolerable pain levels, constant progress following surgery, and getting a patient back to their once normal state. Tolerable pain levels are important for both the patient's well-being and for the surgeon.Much of a surgeon's reputation rides on their ability to perform a procedure causing as little pain as possible for the patient. Thus, pain outcomes data of patients are especially important. However, most pain outcomes data requires the patient to recall previously experienced pain states. The current study investigated the accuracy of pain recall one day after an orthopedic surgical procedure of 32 patients of a single surgeon at a private hospital in the Midwest. Findings indicated that patients' current pain states influenced their recall of previously reported pain states of one day earlier. The study shows that patients anchor their recall of previously experienced pain states in the direction of their current pain state. Study implications are discussed which include: the amount and direction pain is inaccurately reported, and how the findings add to the current literature which typically shows pain being inaccurately reported in the opposite direction.